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The 3rd day of the NFL Draft probably has more viewers than the NBA Draft

That's because the whole process is a crapshoot. Only like 3-4 players in every draft are really worth a damn, nothing past the top 10 is interesting.

In the NFL, you don't have to necessarily be the tallest/fastest/most instinctive to turn into a great player eventually. In the NBA, to be a great player you have to have a great combo of size/speed/shot/handle etc etc, you can't really have a problem with your game. Combine that with the small percentage of the population that are tall enough to play, and you have so few players a year worth following in the draft, that it's pointless to watch.

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I have NEVER understood the point of the lottery. It doesn't stop teams from tanking(honestly it makes it worse) and by constantly screwing the terrible teams over by denying them good talent they continue to suck. One of the biggest appeals the NFL has is parody you'd think the NBA would figure that it and copy the model. I guess they are completely content with only 5-6 of their markets giving a poo though while half the teams struggle to be profitable.

The point of the lottery and it being off-screen, is it allows the NBA to "hand out" picks, backroom style. I know this sounds like a conspiracy theory, and maybe it is, but I wouldn't put it past the NBA. Just watch some games and observe the officiating and you know things aren't quite right with "fairness" in the league. I know this happens in all sports, but with the NBA it's almost every game that there is something going on. I would never put anything past Stern.

NO gets the first pick last year? Cleveland still getting picks after losing LBJ? Come on. It's been what, almost a decade since the worst team got the #1 pick? What are the odds. Things need to change.

You know the lottery is wrong when you aren't surprised that, despite the odds, you get screwed again. I would have been more surprised to get the #1 pick.

This is why we need some good FA signings, because even if you tank or legitimately are bad, it's never a given you're going to get a good pick. NBA more than NFL, I believe it's 50% FA and 50% draft, unless of course Stern is handing you picks.

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I have NEVER understood the point of the lottery. It doesn't stop teams from tanking(honestly it makes it worse) and by constantly screwing the terrible teams over by denying them good talent they continue to suck. One of the biggest appeals the NFL has is parody you'd think the NBA would figure that it and copy the model. I guess they are completely content with only 5-6 of their markets giving a poo though while half the teams struggle to be profitable.

I think the lottery would be fine if they weighted the probabilities of winning the #1 pick much heavier than they currently have them weighted for the worst teams. Maybe only have the lottery for the 5 worst teams and distribute the probability out of 100 accordingly, weighing heavier towards the worst team.

For example, didn't the Magic have a 25% chance of winning the first pick last night?

Garbage. It should be much higher and honestly, I think the last 4 teams or so that didn't make the playoffs don't deserve to be in the lottery... So, readjust the weighted odds accordingly towards the sorrier teams OR at the risk of alienating entire fanbases, go the NFL's way and base it purely off worst record in the prior year. Problem with that is, it would be horrible to see a team purposely trying to lose every game from start to finish in an 82 game season.

Regardless, with the talent Cleveland already has, they were fine picking where they were projected. In no way did they need another #1 pick.

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Teams will always tank. They still do, even with the lottery. The only thing the lottery accomplishes is teams are tanking for MORE years, trying to get that once in a decade pick. I would say that if the worst team, got the first pick, there would be less tanking going on, honestly. And as much as tanking gets cheesy, can you blame the teams that do it? They can't compete with the Heat and sign 3 all-stars. Tanking and hoping to grab a superstar is all they can do. Even so, Hornets need excitement NOW so I'm not OK with them tanking, not when there are some good big men free agents out there that would help us a lot. Besides we have to spend to reach the min. salary, so why not? We need to make money now, and put people in the seats.

You are right that the worst team should have a higher %, like way high, but by then, why even have it?

I've always said the lottery is rigged, if it wasn't, they'd throw it on TV and make quite a bit of money out of an hour or two program where you could watch it live.

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Teams will always tank. They still do, even with the lottery. The only thing the lottery accomplishes is teams are tanking for MORE years, trying to get that once in a decade pick. I would say that if the worst team, got the first pick, there would be less tanking going on, honestly. And as much as tanking gets cheesy, can you blame the teams that do it? They can't compete with the Heat and sign 3 all-stars. Tanking and hoping to grab a superstar is all they can do. Even so, Hornets need excitement NOW so I'm not OK with them tanking, not when there are some good big men free agents out there that would help us a lot. Besides we have to spend to reach the min. salary, so why not? We need to make money now, and put people in the seats.

You are right that the worst team should have a higher %, like way high, but by then, why even have it?

I've always said the lottery is rigged, if it wasn't, they'd throw it on TV and make quite a bit of money out of an hour or two program where you could watch it live.

Agreed. Why not show the actual lottery process as they pull the ping-pong balls out and give real time results?